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A French Manicure With Essence

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Hello Lovelies,

You may have seen my recent post about my first Essence haul here where I bought a few products from the brand Essence after being gifted some makeup items in the summer and loving them, you can see that Essence product review post here. Since my haul post I have been trying out the products I bought and today I am going to share my thoughts with you on some of the nail products I purchased to create a french manicure. I purchased my Essence items from Wilko, Essence is sold in store and also on line on the Wilko website here.

The item I purchased to create a french manicure was the French Manicure White Tip Painter this is basically a pen which paints on the white tips and was £1.50, I've used a pen like this for years but usually pay around £5.00 so I was pleased when I saw I could get the Essence one for £1.50.

Next I purchased a nail polish to create the nude base colour of my french manicure, the French Manicure Beautifying Nail Polish in 02 a pale peach coloured nail polish which was £1.80 and the polish I usually use is £4.49 so I was hoping the Essence polish would be just as good so I could save some money and continue to purchase the Essence polish. Should you wish to try the French Manicure Beautifying Nail Polish in 02, you can find it on the Wilko website for £1.80.

The polish I usually use to create the nude base of my french manicure is the Rimmel Brit Manicure in English Rose 445 and is £4.49 but does give me the perfect base colour, I was hoping the Essence polish would do the same.

I also purchased the Essence Nail Polish Corrector Pen which was £2.70. I have in the past used pens like this and paid a lot more for them so I was intrigued to see if this one performed well for the price, I haven't bought a polish remover pen for a very long time and now if needed I'll clean up any mistakes using a cotton bud (que tip) dipped in some nail polish remover.

Using The Products

The first product I used when creating my french manicure was the Essence White Tip Painter, I found the pen easy to use, to release the white polish from the pen you have to push down the nib of the pen the white fluid/polish is quite thin and runny but it isn't a problem and didn't make the pen difficult to use, I did find I had to keep pushing down the nib of the pen after each use to bring more fluid/polish into the nib which wasn't a problem but something I thought was worth mentioning.

My nails after using the white tip pen

As you can see from the above photograph the White Tip Painter did a great job of creating the white tips for my french manicure.

Next I used the French Manicure Beautifying Nail Polish in 02 a peach coloured polish for my nude base, when creating a french manicure I always paint the tips first and then add the nude/pinky shade over the top. The polish has a nice easy to use brush with a fairly wide brush, it isn't as wide as the brush on the Essence Gel polishes but it was easy to work with.

The brush on the polish

I used 2 coats of the polish as I normally would allowing each coat to dry fully in between and then added my top coat and my nails were finished, the top coat I used was the Essie Gel Setter top coat which gives a lovely glossy finish to my nails.

The Finished Look & My Overall Thoughts On The Products

I found the White Tip Painter easy to use and the only thing I didn't like was having to keep pushing the nib down to release the product but it wasn't a problem and for the price of £1.50 I thought it was a great product and would definitely recommend it. I couldn't find the exact same pen as mine on the website but I found the French Tip Painter on the Wilko website for £1.50 which looks as if it is an identical product and does the same thing as the pen, so if you would like to try a similar product I would recommend that one.

I really didn't like the Beautifying Nail Polish in 02, I found it very thin in consistency and it applied very streakily and when I'd finished my nails it looked streaky too as you will be able to see in the photographs above, I have since tried the polish again using more coats but it still didn't look right at all, unfortunately I wouldn't recommend the polish and will be sticking to my HG polish for french manicures which as I said earlier is the Rimmel Brit Polish in 445 English Rose, it is a lot more expensive than the Essence but gives a much better result. I have since found on the Wilko website there is an Essence polish which is more of a pink toned and looks similar to the Rimmel one, it is called the French Manicure Beautifying Polish in 01 however it wasn't available when I purchased my polishes and although the pink shade may be a better shade than the peach shade I picked up I fear it may still be thin and look streaky so I won't be purchasing it and will stick to the Rimmel one.

I found the Nail Polish Remover Pen easy to use, I had to wipe it on some kitchen roll after every use but that wasn't a problem, I would purchase it again but it isn't a product that would become a HG product as I can use a cotton bud and nail polish remover and get the same result but it is good if you want something quick and easy to use without messing about with cotton buds etc. If you would like to buy the Essence Nail Polish Remover Pen you can find it on the Wilko website for £2.70.

So those are my thoughts on the Essence products I purchased to create a french manicure, I liked the white tip pen and the polish remover pen but really didn't like the beautifying nail polish, I think the finished look looked streaky and I really wasn't happy with it, but I can still use the white tip pen with other products and I will continue to use the polish remover pen too so all is not lost.